"Splash Two"! - Building Ritchies/DeBellevue's Double MiG Killer F-4E

By Dr Menelaos Skourtopoulos

"Splash Two"!
Building Ritchies/DeBellevue's Double MiG Killer F-4E
A conversion of Revells F-4F into an early F-4E in 1:32 scale
by Dr Menelaos Skourtopoulos & Col. Charles "Chuck" DeBellevue (USAF, Ret)

Introduction

The F-4E Phantom II is a legend among modern combat aircraft. There are many stories written about the Phantom in action. The Phantom has served in the Air Forces of many countries. The systems on it have been modified to keep it competitive with more modern fighters and the F-4 is still employed in a number of countries. For the United States, the Phantom played a principal role in the Vietnam War and is now being used as a full scale aerial target.

This article is a tribute to the pilots and WSOs that flew the Phantom over the North Vietnam.

History (narrative by C. DeBellevue)

It was the 8th of July 1972 and 4 F-4Es of the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS), 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing (TRW) took off from Udorn RTAFB (Royal Thai Air Force Base) and headed north for another Combat Air Patrol (CAP) mission.

The flight's call sign was "Paula". "Paula 01" was an F-4E (67-362) TDY from the 33rd TFW, 58th TFS from Eglin AFB. Capt. Steve Ritchie, the pilot of "Paula 01", was crewed with Capt. Chuck DeBellevue, WSO. Capt. Ritchie had already shot down 2 MiG21s, the first flying with Capt. DeBellevue and the second with Capt. Larry Pettit. This Phantom was an "E" model, which meant it carried a 20mm six barrel gun in the nose, in addition to 4 Sparrows, 4 Sidewinders, two ECM podes under the Sidewinder pylons and could carry 3 external fuel tanks.

"We were flying over "Banana Valley" a valley 30 miles southwest of Hanoi when a warning call came from the airborne radar controller on "Disco": "They are two miles north of you, Paula!" Disco was the call sign of the EC-121 that provided radar surveillance and enemy intercept information on enemy fighters during the strikes into North Vietnam.

In scanning the skies, I felt that the MiGs were in front of us. I spotted a black fly speck on a white cloud at eleven o'clock, just to the left of the nose, and called it out to Ritchie. Ritchie turned slightly left and went to full afterburner and jettisoned his external wing tanks. A few seconds later, a shiny MiG-21 passed close to the F-4 and turned away in level turn. From flying in North Vietnam on a daily basis, we knew that the MiGs did not normally fly combat missions as single ships. We also knew that a favourite tactic was for the lead aircraft to be the bait, hoping to get the F-4s to follow. Then the second MiG would have an easy shot at the F-4s that were belly up to the real threat. However, as we waited for the second MiG-21 to come by, Ritchie rolled 362 over 135 degrees and set the wings for a slicing maneuver. The second MiG-21 also turned away in a level turn and followed the first MiG.

Ritchie sliced hard left into the MiGs and ended up at the trailing MiGs 5 o'clock at 6.000 ft. I had set up the radar in an automatic acquisition mode so that Ritchie could lock on to the MiG-21 from the front seat. Ritchie fired 2 AIM-7 Sparrows (the Sparrow had a bad reputation of not being a very reliable missile).

In the meanwhile the MiG pilot spotted the F-4 threatening him and started a hard turn. The turning capability of the "21" was tremendous and as the Sparrows came off of the Phantom the MiG was 45 degrees off the nose of the F-4. Both missiles guided perfectly. The first made a 60-degree turn and hit the MiG right behind the canopy, blowing it in half. The second made a 90-degree turn and flew right through the fireball!

"Paula 04", in the meanwhile, was being threatened by the other MiG and called for help. Ritchie had unloaded to get his airspeed up, knowing that the second MiG would probably depart the fight. When "Paula 04" called to say that the other MiG was behind him, Ritchie came back into the fight. He fired one Sparrow but the MiG was now 60 degrees off his nose. The missile was an aft AIM-7. When the AIM-7 is fired, it does a roll maneuver under the F-4, the wings are set based on the information provided by the radar and the missile motor fires. The first time we saw this missile it was already turning to try to intercept the MiG. Ritchie didn't think that the missile would guide, but it did. It made a 90-degree turn like a Sidewider would and hit the MiG behind the canopy. The result was tremendous. The MiG was pulling at least 6 Gs into the missile and literally disintegrated.

Ritchie called "Splash Two!" and after making sure no other MiGs were threatening the flight, flew back to Udorn. A call was made to the command post so that the wing would know of the kills and could let the maintenance crews know that there was going to be an air show in a few minutes. After the air show, which was equally as good as the performance put on by the USAF Thunderbirds, there was a big celebration that night!"

That was Ritchie's 3rd and 4th kills and DeBellevue's 2nd and 3rd. Ritchie and DeBellevue were crewed together when Ritchie made ace status flying the well known F-4D 67-463 on 28 Aug. 1972. DeBellevue ended the war as the highest scoring ace with 6 kills to his credit when he scored his 5th and 6th kills on 09 Sept. 1972 in F-4D 60-267, while crewed with Capt John Madden.

Building "F-4E 362"

The whole story began last year as I wanted to build an early F-4E out of Revells F-4F kit in 1:32nd scale. There is of course a Tamiyas F-4E available, but I already had the Revell kit and wanted to make a conversion.

There were two options for that project: An early USAF F-4E or an early Israeli F-4E. I chose the first because I had all of the decals I needed for it and the story of the double MiG Kill was most interesting.

I searched for pictures of that aircraft but couldn't find anything. The only source I had was Lou Drendels books "..and Kill MiGs" and "USAF Phantoms in Combat". In the second book there's a great paint job of the "362". I went so far that I contacted Steve Ritchie himself, but he couldn't help me either. So I was very happy and proud to made contact with Col. DeBellevue, who gave me a lot of the information I needed for the project.

Here are some more details about the F-4s at the time:

Ritchie and DeBellevue were crewed together and flew on all the CAP missions. "362" had just come out of radar calibration and had to go back into radar calibration because after the second kill, the radar burned itself up and quit working. It had lasted just long enough to get the job done.

During that time frame (Linebacker) the F-4E was going through many modifications. One of these was the Midas Gun Mod, where the longer gun fairing was installed, replacing the short one. Another mod was the "Strip Lights" or Formation Lights. Some aircraft had one or more of the mods completed and some had none. When the F-4E deployed to Udorn for Linebacker the teeth were painted on the nose as shown in many photographs but not on "362". They were removed from all aircraft after the return to the states. The TAC badge was removed after the arrival, but the Squadron and Wing patch remained. Unit involved was the 33 TFW, (Nomads) 58TFS (Mo-Gilla Go-Rilla). They were assigned to the 432 TRW for support. The fin cap was painted blue with white ED on the tail.

Of interest, at that time the normal loadout for the lead aircraft on a MIG CAP or long range BUFF escort mission, was four AIM-7E's, four AIM-9J's, two 370 Gal drop tanks, one 600 Gal centerline tank, one ALQ-87 ECM pod on the left inboard pylon, and one ALQ-101 ECM pod on the right inboard pylon. The wingmen would have four AIM-9E's, as the J's were new and in short supply. On MIG sweeps and short range escort only one ECM pod was carried, but the wingman would have the other pod loaded on his aircraft. Also the 600 Gal centerline tank would not be carried.

The ECM pods were carried on the forward AIM-7 stations only on ground attack missions. The 58th flew only MIG Cap, MIG sweep, Trap and Bait, long and short range escort, and Res Cap missions. The ECM pods were installed on the inboard pylons. There would be two installed, one ALQ-87 and one ALQ-101. If only one was carried, the wingman usually carried the other type. This way they could provide noise and deception coverage.

On MIG Cap and long range escort the load out would be one 600 gal centreline tank, two 370 gal tanks, four AIM-7E's four AIM-9J and two ECM pods. On MIG sweep, Trap and Bait, short range escort, the load out would be the same, except the 600 Gal tank would not be carried. Res Cap missions, same except only one ECM pod.

When flying BUFF escort, they carried four each of the missiles, three bags of gas, and only one ECM pod. The 600 Gal tank was jettisoned as soon as it became empty. With a full load like that, it was hard to keep up with the BUFF's, especially at the altitudes the BUFF flew.
Alert aircraft carried the eight missile loadout, two 370's and one ECM pod.

The MiG Kill Markings

The original stars were flat red with no outline. Prior to returning back to the States, all MIG killers were repainted with gloss red stars, with gloss yellow outlines. The type of aircraft destroyed was printed in the stars, in gloss white with the date below the stars in gloss white. If you want to show the aircraft as it appeared while still flying combat missions the stars will be flat red with no outline.

So I had to find some extra parts to make an early F-4E. First I found the outer unslated wings from the Revell RF-4C kit. I got the slated stabilators, the short gun muzzle and the front gear leg via Paul Stoner (thanks Paul!). The muzzle is from the Tamiya kit and I had to use some putty to fix it.

The Revell kit, as I mentioned many times, presented some problems, but they are all solvable. The most work that had to be done was to reshape the radome.

The ejection seats are from CAM with the Eduard harnesses on them. For the cockpit I used the front panel of the Monogram F-4E kit and the WSO panel of the Tamiya kit.

Second problem was the ECM pods. I had the ALQ-87 from my Tamiya F-4C/D kit. The ALQ-101 had to be made from scratch. I used an old Maverick missile that I cut the fins off and used some putty to give it the appropriate shape.

The AIM-9s are all from Revells F-5E kit (not the Hasegawa reissue but the older Revell kit). Their protective caps are made from…paper! I build the 362 as it was after landing, so I didn't use any external tanks and only an aft AIM-7.

Painting

I painted the Model in the typical SEA pattern camo. I used enamels from Humbrol for that job. Again everything was made by brush, no paintguns.

Decals

Many of the decals are self made. I had to search and found the badges of the 33rd and 58th units in the world wide web. I printed them then on clear decal.

The big number "362" was made from Tamiyas decals for the F-4E from the number "392" (again thanks to Paul Stoner). The AF and 67 made from decals found in the spare box.
The big "ED" made again from white decal.

I'm very glad to have that model. The short gun F-4E is again something different beside the other F-4Es! I hope that I made the "362" as accurate as it really was. Col. DeBellevue said to me: "it looks like the real thing!!"

I would like to thank Col. DeBellevue for his support and contribution for this article. It's a great honour for me having him as a co-author for this article.

I would like to send a BIG "thanks" to Mr. Paul Stoner for sending me the Tamiya Parts and decals I used, and Mrs. Tina Pohl for her great assistance by taking those pictures!

Chuck DeBellevue commented that the pictures of the model looked like the real thing and he wanted to know where I had gotten the pictures, since he did not have any of "362"!!.

References

...and Kill MiGs. Air to Air combat in the Vietnam War (Lou Drendel)
USAF Phantoms in Combat (Lou Drendel)
Air War Over Southeast Asia. A pictorial Record Vol. 3 1971-1975 (Lou Drendel)
F-4 Phantom II in Action (Larry Davis)
F-4 in Detail and scale Vol. 2 (Bert Kinzey)